The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-02
IS zoU WATKINS ALIvEq
A Strange Story That Is Told by a
Denver Detective.


tragedy at st. Louis four years ago struck
deep into the hearts of the people. 1t was
most touching close of a bright young life
a sad, soul-sorrowing termination of a
dream of love and happiness that filed an
innocent girlish mind--and the memory of
it cannot yet have entirely passed away.
The circumstances were these: Missouri
Watkins, the 17-year-old daughter of a mer-
chant of this city, was sent to her uncle in
St Louis to make her home with this
relative for a while. There was an OBJ
iect in sending Zou away from Denver.
The girl was in love. A young
man had won her heart but he wasn't
of the style which Watkins pere fancied,
and to separate the signing and spooning
pair and quench their passion Zou was for
warded to her st. Louis uncle. 1t was
hoped that time and distance would wean
the girl from her dream; that on the banks
of the Mississippi she would forget the gen
tie swain on the banks of the Platte; but the
visit had different sequel-a darker, sadder
ending than the Watkins or anybody else
had expected. After she had been in st.
Louis two weeks Miss Watkins suddenly
and mysteriously disappeared. One day
she left her uncles house for a
walk, and was thereafter never
seen alive" All sorts of extraordinary sur
abundant clews, but they did not find the
girl Strangely acting and suspicious
looking men were tangled up in the police
theories, and it was feared that poor Zou
had lost her life in struggle with some
| ruffians who were seen to be dragging a
young girl along the river front a day or
two after the disappearance. Argument
was made that Miss Watkins had wandered
in half hysterical way TO the bank of the
river, and while there had fallen into the
hands Of merciless hoodlums, who
had made her fate more fearful
one than if it had been simply
crowned with murder. AS in the Mary
| Churchill case every clue was followed,
| but in vain. At last the river sent in its
solution of the mystery--the body Of
| drowned girl was found near Carondelet
one morning, and "a few hours later the
| swollen, blackened, bedraggled and next to
| shapeless remains were lying in the morgue,
where they were identified by Miss Watkins
| father and uncle. There the history of the
case ended. Physicians examined the body
| for marks of violence, but found none, and
the conclusion arrived at by all who
| had studied the case was that Miss
| Watkins had either walked or fallen
| into the river There was general
sympathy for the lost girl, and many ex-
| pressions of coincidence with the bereaved
parents Now comes the strangest part of
|
body at all familiar with the case, and that,
| if true, adds largely to the element of ro
| nance which invests it, The correspondent
met on the street here to-day detective
who is well known in Denver, and who told
him that Zou Watkins was not dead at all,
but alive and well, living in the West happy
and contented as the wife of the young man
| from whom she had been separated when
her father sent her from Denver TO st.
| Louis.
"Ill tell you story" said the detective,
'but don't want my name mixed up ip it,
| for the single reason that Zou Watkins is
supposed to be dead and gone, and people
who have any interest in her existence or
non-existence will be inclined to declare the
statement improbable But have the au-
| thority of a man who knows, and who told
me what ! know. l saw this party seven
| teen months ago, right here on Sixteenth
street, in front of the Grand Opera House
| He asked me what knew about Zou Wat
kins. / answered that l knew she was
dead that at ~" was .Ndt ALL mnGS and he he
langhed at ,,.s me. .. ~ NoS muGh, u ne ne
this: The night Zou Watkins disappeared
she took train at Union Depot, In st.
| Louis for Kansas City. Two days before
she had received letter from Kansas City:
that letter came from the young man whose
suit was so bitterly opposed by Mr.. Wat
| kins. The letter contained money for her
| ticket and for other expenses, among which
were included a wrap of some kind, and
| believe, a hat or bonnet. Miss Watkins
was met at the Kansas City depot by her
| lover and they were that very morning
| married by Justice of the Peace,
she assuming the name Of Mary
| Walker and he appeared as John
| Hunt. The couple remained in Kansas
| City, occupying furnished rooms and taking
lie nj "a al anf for
nearly two weeks after the finding of the
| supposed Zou Watkins in the Mississippi
| river Nobody knew them, $50 they were
safe. Anyhow, they had committed no
crime, unless getting married was crime,
50 they had nothing TO fear Folks, of
course, will blame the girl for not commu-
I nicating with her sorrowing people, but
love is a queer thing and prompts men and
women TO acts which they would not think
of doing in their sober moments /
suppose-this is the way my in
forinant argued--that Miss Watkins was.
| afraid that her parents could again
tear her away from her lover If they learned
her whereabouts, and so concluded TO let
them weep over the remains of a stranger
rather than take the chances of having her
cup of happiness again dashed from her lips.
From Kansas City they went TO Abilene
Kan. where the husband, who had invented
o machine of some kind, was looking after
his patent. Leaving Abilene they moved TO
Topeka, and now are in either Leavenworth
or Atchison, the frequent changes of resi-
dence being necessitated by the husbands
attention 10 his patent.
"The gentleman who told me this story
the detective continued, "did not give me
the young mans name, or IL he did have
forgotten il. am satisfied, however, that
the names assumed In Kansas City are all
right, and ! suppose might have looked up
heother name, but really have not thought
much of the tale ever since, and only recall
IL now because / remember having read the
accounts Of the girls disappearance and the
finding Of the body In the river"
Chief Of Rocky Mountain Detectives,
Dave j. Cook. when questioned about the
case pooh-poohed the idea that the girl was
alive. He said he was satisfied she was
dead. and so were her parents. Cook had
charge Of the Western end Of the mystery,
and was employed by Mr.. Watkins. He
made an examination Of the girls trunks,
and found several love-letters, with the
names Of some young men with whom Miss
Watkins had been corresponding, but these
young men were located at the time and
can be located now. II there was any other
young man writing 10 Miss Watkins, Capt.
Cook did not know IL. Mr.. Watkins Is now
/ N Europe, but Capt. Cook assured the re-
porter that any such story would be a sur
prise TO the girls father, as all her relatives
felt certain that she was dead, tho identih-